Each piece of gear has a brand and a rarity that affect its abilities. Most brands have an increased likelihood of rolling a particular ability when a slot is unlocked, as well as a decreased likelihood of a different ability. The rarity affects how many ability slots a piece of gear has by default and the amount of experience required to unlock those slots.

Shops sell gear for cash. On any given calendar day, a shop will have a selection of items for sale. The items available will be selected at random from the pool of items that the player is eligible to buy. The items available in the shop cycle out at midnight according to the system clock. The exact items a player is eligible to buy depends on their level.

Splatoon 2

Ordering

Spyke and Murch

Gear can be ordered through Spyke and Murch. While interacting with other Inklings in Inkopolis Plaza (Splatoon) or Inkopolis Square (Splatoon 2), players can order gear. After midnight according to the system clock, Spyke or Murch will have the next ordered item available for purchase.

Players can have up to three gear items ordered at a time, but only one order will be fulfilled each calendar day. The first item ordered will be the first order fulfilled. The items offered for purchase by Spyke or Murch may not have the same abilities as the ordered gear item, and the price will be significantly more than the item would cost in its respective shop.

SplatNet 2

In Splatoon 2, players can use SplatNet 2 to order gear with main abilities not otherwise available for any given item. Gear ordered this way can immediately be purchased through Murch in-game.

Six gear items are available for order at a time. Every two hours, a new gear item is made available and the oldest gear item is removed from the list. Only one gear item can be ordered from SplatNet 2 at a time: ordering a second item will cancel the order for the first one.

Abilities

Each piece of gear has a main ability and up to three secondary abilities. Items ordered from SplatNet 2 will always have their main ability be different from the ability that ordinarily appears on that gear item.

The default number of secondary ability slots is determined by the rarity of the gear item: a 1-star item will have one secondary ability slot and so-on for 2- and 3-star. If fewer than three secondary ability slots are present on a gear item, additional slots can be added by Spyke or Murch.

By default, secondary ability slots are locked and have no ability. Through online battles, gear will gain experience and ability slots will be unlocked. The gear item's rarity determines the amount of experience required for each slot.

When a secondary ability slot is unlocked, a random ability is rolled for it. For most gear brands, a specific ability is five times as likely to be rolled while another specific ability is only half as likely to be rolled.

Unlocking an ability slot

Splatoon

The following chart shows the amount of experience required to unlock a secondary ability slot on a gear item with a given rarity. Numbers in italics represent ability slots that must be added by Spyke.

Rarity

Slot 1

Slot 2

Slot 3

Total

1

1,000

3,000

5,000

9,000

2

2,000

6,000

10,000

18,000

3

3,000

9,000

15,000

27,000

Splatoon 2

The following chart shows the amount of experience required to unlock a secondary ability slot on a gear item with a given rarity. Numbers in italics represent ability slots that must be added by Murch.

Rarity

Slot 1

Slot 2

Slot 3

Total

1

2,000

6,000

10,000

18,000

2

3,000

7,000

11,000

21,000

3

4,000

8,000

12,000

24,000

Unlike all other items, Splatfest Tee requires 7,500 points for each slot for a total of 22,500 points.

Promotional gear

7-Eleven

In 2017, 7-Eleven sold exclusive Splatoon 2 merchandise in Japan through their website. Purchased items were also accompanied by a download code for exclusive in-game gear. 7-Eleven exclusive gear items cannot be ordered through Murch.

The following gear items were available for purchasing any eligible item:

The January 2018 issue of CoroCoro Comic included unique product codes that could be used in the Nintendo eShop to redeem promotional gear in Splatoon 2. These CoroCoro Comic exclusive gear items can only be used with the Japanese version of the game and cannot be ordered through Murch.

These items resemble the signature outfit of Emperor, an antagonist in the Splatoon manga.

The August 2018 issue of CoroCoro Comic included unique product codes in a Spygear License Card that could be used in the Nintendo eShop to redeem promotional gear in Splatoon 2. These CoroCoro Comic exclusive gear items can only be used with the Japanese version of the game and cannot be ordered through Murch.

Japanese magazine Famitsu has held contests for reader-submitted designs to be implemented in Splatoon games. Gear added in this way becomes accessible in-game from shops, and can be ordered through Spyke and Murch.

The King of Games is a brand of apparel by Japanese apparel manufacturer Editmode that produces officially-licensed Nintendo clothing. From launch, Splatoon has included a KOGbrand that sells in-game analogs to real-world products. This gear is accessible in-game from shops, and can be ordered through Spyke.

On 16 March 2018, a Splatfest was announced for Splatoon 2 with a theme inspired by real-world Nike shoe products. As part of the promotion, two new gear items were added to the game. This gear became accessible in-game from shops, could be ordered through Murch, and were immediately listed for order on SplatNet 2.

During the initial Splatoon Global Testfire event, players who pre-purchased Splatoon in-game would receive gear to distinguish them from most other players. The upgraded gear was only cosmetic and offered no practical advantage.

In Splatoon, the brand that produces the most headgear is Forge (14 items), the brands that produce the most clothing are Splash Mob and SquidForce (16 items each) and the brand that produces the most shoes is Krak-On (13 items).

In Splatoon 2, the brand that produces the most headgear is Forge (18 items), the brand that produces the most clothing is Splash Mob (19 items) and the brand that produces the most shoes is Tentatek (19 items).

In Splatoon, five brands do not produce all three types of gear: Firefin, Forge, Skalop, SquidForce, and the real-world tie-in brand KOG. They all produce headgear and clothing but not shoes, with the exception of KOG, that only produces clothing.

In Splatoon 2, only two brands still have this distinction: Skalop and SquidForce.

In Splatoon 2, this is not the case. Every piece of special promotional gear is produced by an existing brand that is not associated with special promotions, most commonly Forge, which produces eight pieces of promotional gear in-game.

Changes between Splatoon and Splatoon 2

Of the 205 items appearing in both games, 25 had their rarity changed (8 raised, 17 lowered).